Our Visits:

GPO VISIT:-
Chitthi Aai Hai, Aai Hai, Chitthi Aai Hai” !!!

In today’s fast paced globalised world where internets, e-mail and sms- es reign supreme, letters have lost the magic that they once cvoked. The sense of esger anticipation, the bated breath while opening a letter is simply not there.Pailan World School (Junior Section) celebrated World Post Office Day on 9th October, 09. The main idea behind this was to make the students aware of the importance of writing letters as a means of communication. The Junior School had organized a Special Assembly where the entire process of posting a letter right from the time of dropping it in the post box till it is delivered to the addressee was enacted. The little once were dressed colorfully as the post man, the post box, the mail van and a child’s play house was hurriedly converted into a DAKGHAR.Later in the day, the students and teachers of classes IV & V visited the GPO (General Post Office) and the museum annexed to it. The authorities were extremely happy to receive us and helped us by giving a guided tour of the historical building.The children came back wide eyed armed with hitherto unknown information related to stamps and the evolution of the “Ranar” into today’s post man and the gradual transformation of the “Dakghar” into the modern Post Office.

Cyclone Aila Relief:-

Junior Student visited at Nicco Park:-

Adventure Camp for Junior's :-

Friday the 13th, of March 2009, wasn’t inauspicious at all for 46 students of Pailan World School. If anything, it was the beginning of a great journey of their lives that has now left them with lasting memories and a smile. Four days of a great deal of adventure, almost like a storybook, and activity that helped in bonding, learning, understanding, getting to know more about the great country they live in and, most importantly, learning more about themselves and what they can really achieve in life if they really put their minds and hearts into it. 

It was like no other educational tour. There were no books, only nature; no teachers, only guides, no blackboard, only the great rocky outback and a great lake. How much can you learn from nature? Probably everything you ever need to. Living in a big city, there is that much that stays out of your lives. Thus, these four days were important.  
It was an adventure camp, for four days, near the steel city of Jamshedpur, that a firm called indimensions, customized for Pailan World School, in collaboration with the Tata Steel Adventure Foundation (TSAF). Adding great weight was one Ms Bachendri Pal, The first Indian woman of climb Everest, also head of TSAF. Her ideas were moulded for the kids (this was the first time that TSAF handled children of this age-group) with inputs. A neat, not too difficult yet hardly easy set of events and activities were devised.  
We – four teachers (Nupur Banerjee, Joita Banejee, Indrani Upadhyay and Tuhin Chatterjee) and 46children were at Howrah Station’s new complex Platform No 23 early in the morning, scampering into the A/C chair car of Ispat Express. It was a pleasant, fun-filled four-hour journey to Jamshedpur, awaiting a great classroom, full of fun and activity.  
The discipline imbibed in school had a great effect on the bearing of the students, right from the Tatanagar Station, as they queued up to board the TSAF bus. It was an orderly approach, helped by the trainers from TSAF who had come to welcome the students at the station and soon the bus was on its bumpy journey to the camp site, some 25km off Jamshedpur town, off the highway that leads to Chaibasa.  

The entire area is in the East Singbhum district of Jharkhand, and though rocky in nature, it boasts a great deal of flora and fauna, and the landscape changes at every turn. Hence the journey itself was fun.  
The camp site was at a village called Tumung. Tumung is a tribal village, a Santhal village, with no amenities that one is used to in cities or even in small towns. It was a challenge for the kids, to adapt quickly, change the way they approach problems, find solutions and absorb instructions. It was a new path.  
Arriving at the camp site, we all trouped into our tents. They were already set up, but later we would all learn to set them up by ourselves. The kitchen tent was ready, and that there was mineral water available (thanks to indimensions), was a relief. Camping was new to most students. That itself was an experience. But there was little time to rest. A quick freshening up was followed by camp briefing. It was the first proper interaction we had with our trainers, especially camp in-charge P.Bhowmick. We were told the basics of the ‘course’ and the how-tos of camping and the necessary disciplinary requirements. That was important, quite like in school, for a ‘course’ to run properly without a hitch. It was important that the students take in the instructions and we teachers helped.  
All were divided into six groups, not really to ‘compete’ but to ensure that the activities were taken seriously by the students. All teachers were incorporated in some group or the other. Not that those groups had edge. All rules applied similarly to the students and the school teachers. At the camp, the school teachers were students too, the trainers taking the mantle of ‘teachers’. As I explained to the students, things became easier to handle.  

The activities included a ‘tank tread’ and a rope tight rope walking, followed by spider climbing, a barbed wire covered tunnel crawl and clever slips through hanging tyres. It also included the Flying Fox, a great descent from over 40 feet with the help of harnesses and a sweeping karabiner/krabs/snap link on a rope. It scary, yet addictive. All teachers tried it as well, and I say with conviction that I would not have been really been able to reprimand a student who may have climbed a steep, rocky slope right back, to get to the top to try and get another try at the zoom down. It was incredible fun.  
But, sadly enough, fun that it was, it had to be remembered that there were points being  given for timings, adding up to the final tally. We also had to remember that it was not a ‘ride’ at a Mall gaming park, that you could take as many times as you wanted. The lesson was: good things in life are never found in abundance. Hence cherish every bit of it.  
The ability of the students, it was interesting to note, grew with every passing event. Those who were laggards early on, saw the competition catching up and pushed themselves to greater workloads an achievements. One could see the determination shine through the baby faces. No one was willing to give up easily. Nobody said “I can’t’ on the second try. Maybe the first try proved a bit beyond his or her reach, but the student would go back and try all over again (with permission from the camp trainers, who always encouraged a good try), and when he or she succeeded, the sheer joy was clear to see.  
That was what I found in these activities. The first day was relatively easy, but the second day caught up with rock climbing and caving and abseiling. The fun element was always there, never too far from the centre of action. There was a great deal of competition growing and brewing, egged on by us teachers, and each activity found a new hero. If A was good at one activity, his or her team benefitted from that. That was good, because B would prove good at something else.  
It was a good lesson in team building, in camaraderie, in helping your own brethren, in sharing the competitive spirit. It was quite like Pailan World School, out in the open.  
The big gain from the camp was the laughter. Nobody was bored, not one we found who didn’t like it all. We teachers discovered new areas of our students which we had thus far not seen. The students got a closer look at their teachers and learned. Everybody learned from each other. We found there was a lot to take from the young minds as well.  
A visit of Tumung Village was the idea of Sujit Bhar, who heads indimensions. It provided an astute learning curve, away from textbooks, yet nearer to the hearts of the children. I was surprised to see their inquisitive minds open up, asking questions galore. They wanted to know everything of everything, we helped a lot, but they were more interested in asking the village folk themselves. It was interaction at its best. I, for one, was glad we went there, and was glad to watch.  
The night was fun too. Apart from a video show on Bachendri Pal’s Everest climb, there was a night trek around the camp site. It was eerie and scary, yet exciting. In one word, fantastic. The children would not stop talking, or shining their torches ahead. The great sky was filled with stars, many of which are hardly visible from the polluted city. It was in itself an experience. It was serene for us, almost enchanting for the kids.  
On the third day we moved to the Dimna Lake. Good that the organizers arranged for life jackets for all. The water was welcoming cold, but many had no knowledge of swimming. Hence the use of safe life jackets helped them, too, to take to the waters and splash around. The paddle boat rides were an added attraction as was the making of a raft by the students themselves (with help from trainers), and then taking to the waters in them. There was a great deal of cheering, a great deal of happiness all around. And not a single smile wasted.  
Later in the day, we all learnt how to set up basic hutments from plastic sheets and rope and sticks. It is a basic survival technique that may stand students in good stead in life.  
Madam Bachendri Pal came to Dimna on the third afternoon and interacted freely with the students and patiently answered all their queries. She also signed autographs. Dimna was difficult to leave. The night was filed with dancing and singing and lots of stories.  
The fourth morning was pack-up and over to the TSAF office. It was certificate time too for the kids.  

The students from Class VI to XI were taken on South City Multiplex on 6th July 2008.

The students of Class X & XII were taken on an Educational trip to Digha on 31st May 2008.

The students of LKG, UKG, Class I & II visited Clowntown on 20th April 2005 for a one day summer camp during the summer vacations.

The students of Class III, IV & V visited the Ffort Radisson on 24th April 2005 for an overnight excursion. They played games, collected specimens for nature study & frolicked in the pool.